Hon. Garrett L. Wong takes over as San Francisco Asbestos Department Presiding Judge

Judge Garrett L. Wong  formally replaced  the Hon, Teri L. Jackson  as the San Francisco Superior Court Asbestos Presiding Judge on January 11, 2016.   Judge Wong is a San Francisco native and graduate of the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

Judge Wong has a diverse professional background, with experience in civil and criminal litigation in both the public and private sector. He has worked as a deputy public defender, a commercial, criminal and environmental litigator in private practice, and as in-house counsel for SBC Communications.  In 2005, he was appointed to the San Francisco Superior Court by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. For eight years, he served as both a misdemeanor and trial judge at the Hall of Justice in San Francisco.   In 2014, Judge Wong began serving as an Associate Judge for the Appellate Panel at San Francisco Superior Court. He is now the Presiding Judge for the Appellate Panel. Although Judge Wong has only served as a civil judge for two years, he already has presided over several asbestos cases.

The San Francisco Superior Court carries the largest asbestos litigation caseload of any of California’s 58 Superior Courts. In 2009, the Court created a single asbestos case management department to handle asbestos cases.  Like his predecessor, Judge Wong will continue the Court’s efforts to efficiently move asbestos cases towards trial and resolution.